Netanyahu lauds 'excellent' Trump meeting as Israel pushes harder Iran line

WASHINGTON — Despite tensions over the Iran war they jointly launched, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted his “excellent” meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. 

A frequent White House visitor in Trump’s second term, Netanyahu was meeting with the US president for the first time since Israel and the United States began their punishing air campaign against Iran in late February. It came as Trump seeks to wind down a war that’s killed 18 US service members, cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and pushed gasoline prices higher ahead of the midterm elections in November. 

Asked Monday if he and Netanyahu were on the same page about Iran, Trump said, “We have a little difference, but pretty close.”

The initial readouts were upbeat. In an X post, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt described Trump's separate meetings with Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday as “productive and positive.”  

Netanyahu was more effusive, calling it "one of the best conversations" he ever had with Trump. 

"I just finished an excellent meeting with President Trump. When I say excellent, I don't mean it superficially,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his office. He described the meeting as "an opportunity to exchange ideas and also to coordinate on things that are important for the security and for the future of Israel.” 

The two leaders showed a united front at the outset of the war. But as Trump began to look for an off-ramp, his public comments reflected mounting frustration with Netanyahu’s preference for a more aggressive campaign against Iran and its powerful Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. 

The tensions spilled into the open after Israeli strikes in Beirut threatened to unravel US-Iran peace talks, with Trump acknowledging he called Netanyahu “crazy” in an expletive-laden June 1 phone call.  

Israeli officials were sidelined from negotiations over a preliminary deal between Tehran and Washington to end the war and restart nuclear talks. The initial agreement collapsed after Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz triggered a renewed US naval blockade.

On Friday, Trump halted a nearly two-week run of airstrikes against Iranian military sites, prompting Iran to pause its attacks on US bases in the region. Mediators in Pakistan, Qatar and Oman are now trying to narrow the remaining gaps over reopening the vital strait and restoring a ceasefire between the United States and Iran. 

Netanyahu was expected to warn Trump against striking a deal that would grant concessions to Tehran, skeptical it will ever fully abandon its nuclear program or regional agenda.

Ahead of the meeting, Israeli officials told Al-Monitor that Netanyahu planned to present potential attack plans, including strikes on Iranian bridges, roads, railway lines and regime strongholds in Tehran. 

Speaking at a conference hours before the meeting, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his country “very much wants to attack energy targets in Iran but that the United States does not allow it at the moment.”  

Netanyahu had hoped to use the meeting to demonstrate a close relationship with Trump, whose endorsement could bolster his sagging poll numbers ahead of the Israeli election in October. Asked about the elections last month, Trump said that he would “most likely” support Netanyahu but added he would first “have to look at who’s running.” 

Hours before their meeting on Tuesday, Trump bristled when asked about reports that Netanyahu planned to share intelligence on Iran’s efforts to rebuild its nuclear program at the Pickaxe Mountain site. 

“I don’t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved,” Trump told Fox News. 

The Pickaxe Mountain facility is located in the Zagros Mountains about a mile from Natanz, one of the three Iranian nuclear sites that the US military bombed in June 2025. International inspectors haven't been permitted to visit Pickaxe Mountain, fueling concerns it could be used for other covert purposes, such as uranium enrichment. 

“It’s not a big problem,” Trump continued. “We took out their nuclear sites, and we’ll have to take out Pickaxe if they don’t make a deal.”

Netanyahu and Trump are also at odds over Ankara’s closer ties with Washington. On Monday, Trump brushed off Netanyahu’s stated opposition to the potential US sale of advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey.

“Nobody tells me what we should be selling,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “Turkey has been a tremendous ally for me.”

According to a White House official, the two leaders were also expected to discuss the framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon as well as Trump’s desire to expand the Abraham Accords. After the Oval Office meeting, Netanyahu was seen attending the funeral service in Washington for his longtime political ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham. 

Graham was one of Washington’s most vocal supporters of war with Iran. In his remarks at his funeral, Trump described the South Carolina senator as “extremely hawkish” and said that he "never saw a war that he didn’t like.”

Rina Bassist contributed to this report.